Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest

Summer in the Nooksack Valley

I spent the day before July 4th traveling around the North Fork Nooksack River valley. I was primarily interested in several waterfalls but I also revisited a small creek that I haven’t been to in a while. The weather was perfect for photography (cloudy and dry) and was a mixture of success and setbacks. I had hoped to find a possible vantage point across from Nooksack Falls but that did not pan out on this trip. I also had hoped to photograph Wells Creek Falls from creek level but that also did not happen due to high water and too many water crossings to gain entrance into the falls’ amphitheater. The last setback was getting cliffed out while bushwhacking up Deadhorse Creek to Deadhorse Falls. If the falls are your goal, follow the LEFT (or east) bank upstream. The right side is easier travel initially but becomes a very steep cliff face as the falls come into view.

On to the successes..

Clouds shroud the upper slopes of Church Mountain
Cascade Creek
Cascade Creek
Cascade Creek
Cascade Creek
I made a quick stop at Nooksack Falls to shoot a summer version of a photo I took a few winters ago. I’m very happy with the end result:

Nooksack Falls
I’ve shot a particular creek that flows into the Nooksack immediate above Nooksack Falls a number of times throughout the winter but have rarely visited the stretch of creek located upstream of the Mount Baker Highway. The higher flows right now made conditions more conducive for a visit:

Un-named Creek
Un-named Creek
Un-named Creek
And now…..Wells Creek Falls. It’s somewhat visible from Wells Creek Road and located just 1,000 feet upstream of the road. How hard can it be? Well……….VERY. Photographing the falls from creek level can be done but is best suited for fall when the water levels are lower. On this day, the water was running deep enough to discourage fording since the hike would require several fords across the creek to gain entrance into the waterfall’s amphitheater.

From about the halfway point between the falls and the road, my friend and I looked up and weighed my options. Both sides were steep walled ridges but we decided to go with the right hand side. We huffed it back out to the road and then crashed into the forest. I’ve crashed through some huckleberry dominant understories before but this was unreal. The huckleberry was thick and 6 feet tall. Negotiating this was a huge drain on energy. On the flip side, the floor of the forest was quite prolific with bunchberry in bloom (no photos, though!).

After a lot of scratches and brush crashing, we arrived at the location of the falls. Unfortunately, there isn’t a clear vantage point due to the thick forest. Here’s what I was able to capture:

Wells Creek Falls
If I didn’t believe it before, I do now- the Wells Creek drainage bites back!

Tye Waterfalls

I wasn’t going to head out this weekend but decided I needed to get out after a very lengthy day of yard work. Forecasts were stream and waterfall friendly so I decided to head up Highway 2 to check out a couple waterfalls in the Tye River valley. First, I decided to revisit a location from a couple weeks ago to re-shoot it under better conditions:

Unnamed Creek - Foss River Valley
Unnamed Creek - Foss River Valley
Next up, Alpine Falls which is just east of the Old Cascade Highway’s west end. The volume of water is pretty high so it’s hard to get a balanced exposure and detail in the waterfall:

Tye River
Alpine Falls (Portrait Version)
Alpine Falls (Landscape Version)
My last stop was was a waterfall I had no idea existed which is appropriately named Scenic Falls. It’s located just off of the road to the Surprise Creek trailhead and pretty impressive. Once again, with water volumes running on the high side, photos were difficult because a hefty amount of spray downwind of the falls. I found a “dry zone” which was partially shielded by a slope to take the photos you see here:

Lower Scenic Falls
Another view of the lower Scenic Falls
Base of the upper Scenic Falls
Upper Scenic Falls
Bunchberry bloom
I will return to Scenic Falls at some point to re-shoot it. It was late in the day but I saw another vantage point up higher and outside of the spray zone so I’m anxious to try it.

The Foss

I finally found myself bsck on more familiar ground this week after my trip to Honduras. I lost track of time recently so I spent the best day of this weekend framing my entry for next week’s Edmonds Art Show (I’ll save my original destination for next weekend). I still felt the need to get out so I headed out to the Foss River valley to explore some more.

First up is a small creek that runs underneath Highway 2 a little bit west of Skykomish. I’ve thought about stopping at this location for a while now but never have. It turns out that it did have some photo worthy opportunities:

Unnamed Creek
Unnamed Creek
From here, I pressed onward and headed up the Foss River Road. Once again, there’s one particular creek that I’ve crossed but never explored. The full sunshine was havoc but once again I found some interesting scenes:

Unnamed Creek - Foss River Valley
Unnamed Creek - Foss River Valley
Unnamed Creek - Foss River Valley
Unnamed Creek - Foss River Valley
Next up was a second visit to a particular spot along the Foss River that I found earlier this winter. By now, the weather was SLOWLY turning with scattered clouds beginning to drift through. Still- bright sunshine was still dominating:

Foss River
Foss River
Foss River
From here, I headed up the valley to see if I could get up to the Evans Lake trailhead. It looked hopeful but about 1 mile shy of the trailhead the road became snow covered and undriveable. At one point, I happened to look up and watched some whispy clouds stream across the ridgeline above me. The clouds were backlit due to the sun and a halo kept appearing:

Sun Halo
From here, I doubled back down the valley and wanted to quickly check out the conditions near Jack’s Pass on the Beckler River Rd. I was bummed to find a MASSIVE windfall blocking one of the side roads off of the pass about 0.5 miles in. A four foot diameter trunk sheered off about 30 feet off of the ground. I’m not so sure this will get cleared this year. That will put a damper on a few of my plans!

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